July 21, 2025 • 34 mins
Ron Harvey speaks with James Spearman, an aircraft maintenance shop owner and Air Force National Guard KC-135 pilot, about balancing entrepreneurship with effective leadership practices and personal wellbeing.
• James shares his aviation journey inspired by his grandfather's World War II flying experience
• People-pleasing tendencies can undermine leadership effectiveness by avoiding necessary confrontations
• Being the constant "hero" who fixes everything prevents team members from developing problem-solving skills
• Deployment 4,000 miles away forced James to let his team step up, revealing their untapped capabilities
• Working 60-80 hour weeks led to physical health issues including stress rashes and nausea
• The "oxygen mask principle" – leaders must take care of themselves first to best serve others
• Reactive leadership decisions during emotional moments rarely yield positive outcomes
• Investing in coaching and personal development is essential for entrepreneurial success
• Having crucial conversations respectfully maintains both accountability and relationships
• Taking time to think before responding to challenges prevents damaged relationships
Find James Spearman at www.spearmanaircraft.com or check out his podcast, The James Spearman Show, featuring stories of aircraft owners.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of GlobalCore Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good afternoon.
This is Ron Harvey, vicePresident, chief Operating
Officer for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting, a
professional services leadershipdevelopment firm based out of
Columbia, south Carolina.
We've been around about 11years.
We spend all of our timehelping leaders be more
effective at taking care of thepeople that they're responsible
for responsible to know theirdirect reports.
How do you do a really good jobof just doing this in this
(00:42):
world where there's so manychanges, so many generations and
so much happening?
How do you just be an effectiveleader and take care of those
people?
So that's what I do on a day today basis, you know, within our
organization, but I pause and doa podcast for our guests and
for our people around the globethat listen and tune in to give
them practical knowledge andwisdom and best practices about
leadership and about somechallenges and about what other
(01:04):
people are doing that they maynot ever encounter in person.
So I love that our guests comefrom all over to do that, and so
, no different than all theother guests, I want to bring
James on.
James Spearman is, you know.
He's coming out of Tennesseewith us and I love to have
guests with all backgrounds.
So, james, I'm going to handyou the microphone man and let
you introduce yourself howeveryou wish to, and then we'll go
ahead and get into the work andthe questions.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, ron, thank you so much for having me on.
I really appreciate theopportunity.
A little bit about me I own anaircraft maintenance shop in
East Tennessee, right at theheart of the Smokies near Pigeon
Forge, gatlinburg, and we haveabout six employees We've ranged
from six to ten here, haveabout six employees Um, we've
(01:47):
ranged from six to 10, um here,and we primarily focus on uh
privately owned aircraft Cirrusaircraft, diamond aircraft, um,
and uh now Epic aircraft as well, and so these are aircraft that
are owned by a small businessowner or business um, and
they're using it to to airplanesare pretty much a time machine.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So they can uh, they can.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
If, if you are a business owner and you own
multiple units like, let's say,multiple locations and you need
to visit a few of them allwithin one region within one day
, this would save you asignificant amount of time and
make sure you could still havedinner with your family.
So we also do upgrades.
We're a Garmin avionics dealerand that's all of the little
(02:27):
instruments that you see in theairplane.
Normally it's taking all thatout and put nice new shiny glass
and it builds safety andsituational awareness for the
pilot.
I do that during the day, andthen I also fly for the Air
Force National Guard inKnoxville.
I fly the KC-135.
It's a refueler.
(02:48):
It refuels all the fighters andpretty much every airplane in
the inventory whenever they needgas while in the air Right, so
fuels the fight.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Wow.
Well, this is intriguing.
There's so many questions thatjust show up, you know, based on
your sharing your background.
So, james, you're doing twothings.
You're serving our country,thank you for that, you know I'm
serving the country and keepingthem in the air with fuel, but
you're also a business owner, Imean.
(03:25):
So you know you're you're doingthings in aviation and you
think leadership and you thinkaviation.
And I use a video from the BlueAngels when I talk about
leadership, about how importantit is when you're 18 inches
apart from each other, flying at700 miles per hour and
everything has to be just right,and I always tie that back to
leadership.
So I will unpack for usthroughout the day is aviation
and leadership, and you're in anorganization that is about
leadership as well, which istheir National Guard.
But talk about your journey.
(03:46):
What made you get into yourindustry?
What was intriguing enough foryou to say, hey, I want to get
into this space other thanflying?
You're upgrading, outfitting,helping business owners.
What's interesting about thatfor you?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah.
So aviation in general mostpeople that are in it there was
a point in their life where theykind of got the spark.
And once you get the spark itjust never goes away.
And for me personally, mygrandfather was a World War II
aviator and he flew in World WarII and then later on has become
the Air Force, and so I grew uplooking at pictures of him in
(04:18):
airplanes.
My dad told me storiesFortunately I never got to meet
him, but got to see that growingup and then my dad took me to a
local air show.
Normally there's a local airportaround and they'll have, you
know, little fly-ins and airshows and it was no different
there.
And my dad took me there and Iwas in middle school and I just
(04:40):
kind of made up my mind this isit, this is what I'm going to do
.
I don't know exactly whatthat's going to look like.
I actually wanted to fix theplanes to start with, which I
still do.
I just that was the first thingthat kind of caught me.
I wanted to be a mechanic andthen, as I started fixing them,
I thought that would be prettycool to fly these things too.
So fast forward.
(05:08):
I also my was a, an artist, andhe always worked for himself,
and so I always kind of had alittle bit of an entrepreneurial
bug in me, and so it it wasunique that the opportunities
aligned where I was able topurchase a business in aviation,
where my experience, my degreewas in wow, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So, as you, so as you , you like you say you're,
you're running, you know,sometimes with the 10 people in
your organization.
What do you, what do you tellpeople that that have a staff?
When you think of leadership inyour role and and and taking
care of your team, what are someof the skill sets that you
bring to the table to make surethat that?
Because what you're doing isimportant, especially, like you
know, I talk to friends now andyou look at all of the things
(05:44):
that aviation is going through.
There's a lot of challenges andchanges that people are nervous
about aviation.
How do you keep your teamgrounded as a leader with all
that happening?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, so a lot of it's been learning, because when
you get in to start a businessor really anyone getting into a
field where you're going to be aleader, normally it's because
you were good at whatever thething was right.
So you were a good mechanic.
In my experience, you know, inmy space it was a good mechanic,
a good pilot, and I see a lotof business owners like that In
(06:14):
the Air Force right, like thebest technician normally gets
elevated to a leadershipposition.
The problem is that'scompletely different, right?
So being a good leader is notexactly, you know, there's not,
it's not the same.
So you know there's some thingsthat cross.
But yeah, I've had to, you know,kind of make mistakes and learn
(06:36):
how to lead people and it'staken me years, you know, I wish
, you know, I wish I would havestarted, you know, probably
pushing a little bit harder andtrying to educate myself with
coaching on actually justmanaging, managing people.
I would say my unique, my style, naturally, is just kind of
like a charismatic guy andthat's just the only thing I had
(07:01):
.
I never had a way to like holdpeople accountable and have
crucial conversations thatneeded to happen and so, and I'm
kind of a people pleaser too.
So all of those things mixedtogether make inconsistent
management.
So, yeah, I've had to kind oftake my lumps and and, uh, learn
(07:21):
, learn the hard, the hard waythrough most of it and then, um,
and invest in coaching,honestly, to help me kind of
okay, here's, here's the basicson how you would manage.
Uh, someone the air force hashelped a little bit too, going
through officer training andstuff, but it's different, it's
definitely different.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean thank you for being so transparent and
vulnerable there, like, hey,you know I had to figure it out.
You know, I know that I'm apeople pleaser.
You know, I know I'm notconfrontational, but that
doesn't exempt me from having todo the tough conversation and
that's the ownership piece of it.
Like, even though I don't wantto and hope that I never have to
do those things, how do youbuild up the muscle for it?
And Air Force and running thebusiness is different.
(08:01):
In uniform for our listeners,they almost have to listen.
There's some severe consequences.
But when you're in corporateAmerica you are running a
business.
You know the consequences isyou can fire them or your
clients.
You may lose some of yourclients because they're not
doing it.
So there's a different style ofleadership that you got to be
able to embrace.
What have you learned over time, like being in the business and
(08:21):
you think about where you arenow and you know that your
places I don't call itweaknesses, I call it
opportunities for growth younotice that you got these places
where you got to grow at.
What have you been doing?
(08:42):
You know, over time, you knowyou got a coach, which is a
really good idea.
I'm an executive coach, so Ilove working with leaders like
yourself.
What have you learned over timeabout yourself that that's
helping you start having thosecrucial conversations and
holding people accountable?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think in the beginning specifically, there's
a lot of areas, I would say butespecially in the beginning,
what I didn't realize was whatpeople pleasing was, and it was.
It was, um, allowing somethingto happen or doing something to
make somebody else happy, evento my detriment at times, um, or
the company's detriment, or theteam's detriment, um, just
(09:09):
because I didn't want to makethem unhappy, right, and I'm the
number one sales guy in ourcompany, right, just as the
founder it's the founder isalways the sale.
You know the number one salesguy, and so you know what do I
do in sales?
I make people happy, right?
So, and so I had to kind ofunlearn a lot of a lot of that
(09:29):
stuff that, hey, it's okay, it'sactually you're loving the
person by telling them you knowwhere they're actually at,
rather than just showing up oneday and let them go Right, like
they need to know these thingsand and and you know, saying no,
this was really really hard forme, even to my detriment.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So yeah, and there are a lot of people that are
listening, that are in thatposition.
So you know, the thing I loveabout, you know, the podcast, is
that people come on the topopenly and honestly like, hey,
you know what?
I don't have this right yet,I'm still working on it.
You know, the business is stillflourishing.
You know, I'm I'm I'm doingthese things and with the
military background and a CEO,and most times we think, because
we have a title or with a CEO,we're supposed to have it right
(10:10):
all the time.
So I'm glad you said, hey look,I'm still working on it.
I I'm not all the way where Iwant to be at now because
there's this unwritten rule likeleaders think they got to have
all the answers and they got tobe perfect.
Can you, can you speak to?
(10:30):
How did you begin to navigateaway from feeling like first you
got to have all the answers oryou know you got to be perfect
and you got to do it right allthe time.
How did you do manage?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
and navigate that, either from your military
experience or from being anentrepreneur experience, or from
being an entrepreneur, that onetakes time too.
I um, especially from themilitary, where you want to have
some sort of level of you know.
Uh, that saying is, you know,perception is reality, right.
So in the military, you know,you want to be perceived that
you've got it all figured out,otherwise people don't think you
might not.
So, uh, but the reality isyou're never going to know
(10:57):
everything.
It's impossible.
And there's people that startbusinesses every day that have
no clue, they've never done anyfacet of it and they can become
successful over time.
And so, leadership, definitelyright, just because you've never
done it before doesn't meanthat you can never be good at it
.
So, um, actually, the, the, whatI've noticed, the willingness,
(11:19):
willingness that um, that hasgrown to just take those on and
just not, you know, okay, well,we'll figure it out.
And that's places in the team,right where we've got a meeting,
and they're like, well, this orthat we shouldn't do it.
And it's like, okay, well,we'll figure it out.
Now we can do it, we'll figureit out, yeah, we'll just figure
it out.
And so, um, yeah, and, andultimately it's, it's a from a
(11:44):
self-esteem point.
When you kind of let go of this, I have to know everything.
Mentality, um, your, your lifeactually gets a lot happier.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay for me not to know everything yeah, which
which is good for you, as youshare it.
So you're going from, you know,leaving your company, you've
learned that, hey, I don'treally have to have all the
answers.
What do you tell the leaderthat does have all the answers,
and that can be a downside aswell.
So where you're the know-it-all, arrogant or cocky, how does
(12:18):
that get in the way?
Because there's two extremes Imay not show up like I have any
answers, but then I show up likeI have all the answers.
There has to be a nice sweetspot in there where you're not
on either end of that spectrumall the time.
How do you show up if theleader that you do have all the
answers, but make room foreverybody else to have a voice
and have some answers yeah, what?
But make room for everybodyelse to have?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
a voice and have some answers.
Yeah, what comes to mind for me?
Two, two different things.
Right, there's been if you're,if you're cocky and you're a
jerk like that's a separateright, so.
But aside from that, yeah,there there are areas where I'm
I'm really confident.
I don't know everything.
I know that I don't knoweverything everywhere,
everywhere, but I'm prettyconfident in some of my, my
(12:59):
skill sets, yes, that I can makethings happen right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So, yeah, and you're running the business, like and
that's the important part likethat when you know there's some
places you really shine everyone of us if you don't have
those, then get a coach so youcan figure out what those are.
If you're listening, if youhaven't defined where you're
really good at, like, get acoach, coach so you can start
defining those places where youshow up and you know what you
know what you know.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, but when it starts to become a problem, what
comes to my mind when you saythat is when you don't give the
team an opportunity to growright.
So if you're always the hero asa leader, you come in and fix
everybody's problems.
You know what you're trainingeveryone to do is oh, he's got
all the answers.
And then they don't do anythinguntil you tell give them the
(13:46):
answers.
They never learned to solve theproblem themselves, and I
actually had to learn that thehard way too.
Um, when I was deployed actuallythis past year, I was deployed
to the Middle East and I was,you know, four or five thousand
miles away from my business, andit still had to go.
And so normally I'm used tobeing the hero and I can jump in
and kick something out the dooror fix whatever it is right,
(14:10):
and I had to.
All of a sudden, I can't dothat anymore.
I have to rely on the team, Ihave to get them to where they
can get it through, and sothat's another big learning area
that will just make your lifebetter when you start learning
to work through people, becausethere's only so many hours a
(14:30):
week right, and I've definitelybeen guilty of working 60, 100
hour weeks, stuff like that.
But at the end of the day yougot to ask sit down and be like
why am I working 60 hours a week?
What?
What of these things could I bedelegating to my staff, my team
, you know, and that would takethat much off my plate.
So maybe I could have a moremanageable normal week and take
(14:51):
responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Wow, I'm loving the conversation because you're
leading it too, as I you know,you shared a real experience.
No, you got deployed when youdid.
You did you find out, like youknow, when you got deployed
4,000 miles away from yourbusiness and you were the hero
all the time, did you find thatpeople were willing and waiting
to help you?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Because we don't.
We think like, oh, I'm the onlyone that can do it.
But if you just get out the waylong enough, you'll be amazed
what kind of talent's on yourteam.
Yeah, you'd be surprised.
You're exactly right.
And yeah, my staff when I wasgone, they really stepped up big
time and helped me out and Ilearned oh OK, they can do it.
You know, I don't have to bethe one that does this, and it's
not that it's like oh, Ithought they couldn't.
It's just you get addicted.
You get addicted to alwaysfixing the thing, always solving
(15:44):
the problem, always.
And so the first time ithappens when you didn't have to
do it, you're like, oh okay, wow, that happened and I think a
part of it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
You know when I went through that.
I'm going through it as well.
You know we've been in business11 years.
A part of it is your ego drivesit Like who doesn't want to
feel needed and who doesn't wantto feel like they have the
answer and that they're wantedin the company, like, hey, ron
is here, but but it's notsustainable.
I mean, it's not scalable.
Your business will actually beheld back if you, every time
(16:19):
it's going to be successful, yougot to be present.
Your business will be introuble at some point.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, you're exactly right.
You become the learning factor.
You're the bottleneck of everysystem.
Until you let go, it's notgoing to grow.
You can't scale it.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So what did you notice?
So, when you, when you deployed, what did you actually notice
in your business?
How did your business do whenyou finally accept it?
I don't have to be there foreverything.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What started happening in your business that
you needed to happen anyway.
Well, I mean, honestly, I'mtrying to do everything yourself
, I mean, is extremely stressful, and so I mean I would.
I would get rash.
I'm rubbing my arm because it'slike taking me back trauma,
wise right.
I would get like rashes on myarms, I would feel nauseous, I'd
throw up because of the stress,you know, because I'm just in
my mind, I'm like I can't.
No, this is going to happen ifI don't do it, and so I'm sure
(17:14):
I'll work till midnight, sureI'll work the weekend, sure I'll
, you know.
And so my life started gettinga lot better when I started,
which allowed me to focus onother areas where really do need
my attention.
You know not, I don't I don'tneed to be doing everything, but
there are certain things that Ireally do need to be focusing
(17:35):
on, but I can't focus on thosewhen I'm trying to do everything
all at once.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean I tell people that as anentrepreneur, business, a
business developer or leader inan organization, there are about
10 things that actually you arethe only person that should and
could do this thing, but theother 90 things out of a hundred
, somebody else can actually dothem.
And I think when you get caughtup with all the things that
make, I struggled because Iwould do the things that made me
(17:59):
feel good and avoid the thingsI didn't like doing.
So I would step in your way in aheartbeat.
Yeah, let me go do this becauseit struck me either way.
It made me feel like, okay, I'madding some value.
But they look like, yeah, butthis other thing is falling out
of the sky on us because you'renot spending your time over
there.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah, one of the coaches.
I mean I do the same thing.
I procrastinate with things Idon't want to do.
That may really need myattention.
They got to be done but theymake me feel uncomfortable
because I hate it or I don'twant to do that thing.
You've got a couple of optionsto get it done, but you know the
hard conversations that youhave to have.
(18:35):
Like you said, we led this withhard conversations, right?
So those are ones that you gotto have.
He worked with me.
He's like how about do those?
First in the day, wake up andcrush whatever it is that makes
your, your, your stomach uneasy,and then the rest of the day
then do the other things.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yes, I love it like do this the hard stuff first,
when you got the most energy,yeah can you speak to the
entrepreneur that's spending 80hours, like you were, or 60
hours like when is enough enough?
When do you start realizing,like, because sometimes we do
think that, in order to besuccessful, more hours mean
better results or more results,or if I don't do it, it's not
going to get done.
I got to do it because mybusiness is going to fail.
(19:15):
You can rationalize why you'redoing it, but it's still not
healthy.
Like, how do you make thatdecision of when to stop and
stop and be healthy?
Because you don't want to seeyour team work 80 hours, but
you're setting an example ofwhat it looks like because you
work 80 hours.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And I'm still guilty of it.
Right, there are certain timeswhere I've got to drop
everything and I'll work 60, 80,whatever the hours, because
there's some crisis that we haveto.
We've got to.
It requires it.
There's one job that we're waybehind on there was something is
doing it, but realizing thatthat's not sustainable and this
(19:51):
is a one-off thing.
Whenever this is done, I getback to my normal schedule,
which is my calendar, andputting it on the calendar being
intentional.
I think it was Stephen Coveythat talks about your little
bowl with the rocks in it.
Right, if it's full of all thelittle rocks, there's room for
the big rocks.
Yeah, you pour some dirt inthere and make roots.
(20:12):
So, you know, sitting down withmy wife and just planning the
year out, planning the year outand be like these are the big
rocks, these are the things thatare important, right?
Because you know, let's say, youput 80 hours in a week and it's
really successful, and then atthe end of it, nobody's there,
your wife and your kids aren'tthere left, right, it can have
(20:35):
really big consequences, not tomention, let's say, health
issues, right, maybe your wifesticks by your side, but you put
yourself into the hospital,like I said.
I mean, I was having prettysevere health and my body was
telling me this is notsustainable, and sometimes you
can do that for a really longtime.
Then, yeah, you start havingheart issues and you're, you
know, premature, much morepremature time frame and so
(20:57):
having a having a biggerperspective on, okay, this is
not, it's not sustainable, okay,how can, how can I?
And then, but then you kind offeel guilty, right, because
you're not putting 80 hours inor 60 or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, you feel guilty .
We do feel guilty as leaders.
Sometimes you feel guiltybecause you're not putting it in
, but also the message thatyou're sending, and I'll be
biased here for a second.
Like men are horrible abouttaking care of themselves
already, like we just don't do agood job of taking care of
ourselves like we should.
Our body's telling us stuffthat we're tired, we're
exhausted, something's medicallywrong.
(21:32):
And while I can't afford to goto the doctor, you know you
can't afford not to.
Let's be real, if you wantlongevity.
So how do you help theentrepreneur understand?
There are some things thattaking care of you, if you're
the sole source, if you're thisperson, can you speak to
self-care?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
to self-care, yeah.
So, um, this one was hard too,because now they're some of it's
getting into like therapy,right.
But you know, there's probablya reason that if, if you're kind
of like it says you and I, youand I were kind of similar
people pleasing, right, you'renot used to looking after your
own needs.
You're always trying to makeother people happy, and so even
to your detriment.
And so once you realize thatthe other thing is, you feel
guilty when you take care ofyourself, when you do that stuff
(22:18):
.
But somebody really helped meput this in perspective and I
was like, james, would it bebetter for your, let's say, your
wife, your daughter, your team,if you were the 10.0 version
James versus the 1.0 versionJames?
Would it be better for them?
Wouldn't it be good for them ifyou were 10.0, james instead of
1.0?
And I was like, yeah, andthat's when it started to click
(22:41):
in my head.
It's like, okay, no, it's good,I need to invest in myself, I
need to work on a coach, I needto go to the gym, I need to do
the things that make me liketheir self-care things Right.
So get a good night's sleep,only work a certain amount of
hours, you know, usually, andprioritizing the big things and
those make you better and it'sOK you can, it's OK to look
(23:04):
after yourself.
Normal people outside lookingin they just hear, oh, like
egotistical, you know whatever,greedy bosses or whatever.
But you know, what we'retalking about is actually the
opposite, right?
So so you're so scared youcan't even, you can't even take
(23:25):
care of your basic needs.
You feel guilty that you'retaking care of your basic needs.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, which is a culture thing I mean.
And you're taking care of yourbasic needs?
Yeah, which is a culture thing,I mean.
And you got to be mindful.
You know, in the leadershipworld, I say, look, if I tell my
team I want you to spend timewith your family, I want you to
go to the baseball games or thefootball games or the dance
recitals, I got to do the samething and we'll always tell our
staff well, when are you goingto do it?
(23:52):
Like you know, isn't that beinghypocritical?
Like you're telling us to goand do anniversaries and
birthdays and these things thatare significant and important,
but I never see you do it.
James, when are you going to doit?
Cause I'm sure your family will.
And it's like this wake up callwhere they get to hold you
accountable to ensure that youraudio matches your video.
Like we hear you saying it butwe don't see you living it.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And, ultimately, the route where this ends like well,
like we talked about healthissues, maybe lost relationships
, but ultimately you hate whatyou do and I've been there.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yes, when you really hate what you do the business
that you built you hate it.
You can't sustain that, and soit is possible to put this in a
manageable way where you cantake care of your own needs,
take care of your team, buildsomething awesome, but you know
where you actually love what youdo, and that's over the past
year.
That's what I've been workingon quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Hey, congratulations, thanks for sharing.
You know what I was thinkingwhen you were talking about the
different versions, james.
You know I'm like man, sohere's the analogy that came up
yeah, when, when iPhone firstcame out, it was just iPhone,
but every year, and sometimestwice a year, they roll out
another versions.
And so the question that cameto mind like what version are
you in your career If iPhone haschanged once a year, at least
(25:06):
twice a year at a minimum?
Like what, how often are youimproving yourself?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
because iphone realized to be sustainable and
around long term, they keepgetting better yeah, and I'm
going to give you a huge shoutout, because if you're a coach
and you're working with peopleand people are listening to this
podcast, I mean and that ifyou're struggling in your
business somebody told me, like,invest in yourself first yes
get a coach, get it startworking with therapists do, and
(25:32):
I was like, well, how's thatgonna help my payroll, you know,
and it didn't make sense, butyeah, it helped significantly.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That is like step one get a coach, start working on
yourself first yes, yeah, I tellpeople all the time, and I
guess you're in aviation soyou'll appreciate this.
You know, if you're in the airand you're traveling with your
small child and all of a suddenthere's a danger and airbags
fall down, the very first thingthey tell you is put on your
(26:00):
mask first.
Before you put it on, andthat's in my head.
I'm like like you're absolutelyinsane, I'm going to put my
kid's mask on first.
That's what most parentsnaturally want to do.
But the importance of that isthat if you don't get oxygen to
your brain, you're not going tohelp your child anyway, because
it happens so fast.
So you've got to be able tomake sure you can rescue and
save, and if you don't get yourson, your kid is going to be in
(26:20):
trouble if you don't getyourself together.
So, leaders, you've got toactually model what they teach
us in aviation Put your mask onfirst.
That way you can be of serviceto the people that are counting
on you.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
That's a great, great sayingtoo.
A lot of people use thatanalogy in this, in this exact
area, like, and we talk about it, and this is when I fly the
tanker, I mean that's a realthing.
It's there's action statement,it's oxygen on.
Like, put it on.
Step, put the oxygen mask on.
You have a puncturization issue.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Step one I love it, I mean, and it works in every
industry and everything in yourlife.
You know, you can literally saywell, what am I?
If I say this is what we do,then I should do it first, you
know, and I think that's superimportant.
So, professional developmentfor everyone that's listening
develop yourself self-care,spend time with your family,
continue to learn your career,delegate you be first to
(27:13):
delegate.
Trust you be the first to trust.
Like, all these things are goodprinciples and practices,
regardless whether you're anentrepreneur or you're working
in a corporation.
Like how are you letting peoplesee it be done versus telling
them how to do it?
People will always rememberwhat they see more than what
they hear Be a good role model.
Is there anything, as we lookat time, is there anything that
(27:35):
you share through yourexperiences as a, as an
entrepreneur, some leadershipprinciples that you practice
every day in your business, thatwill be helpful to anybody,
whether they're entrepreneurs ornot?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Practice every day.
Well, one that really hits home, kind of where we started, that
I've been working on is thehaving the conversations when
they need to be had.
You know it really is and doingit in a way right like you
don't want to be a jerk, you saythings respectfully, but you
know staying up for yourself,doing the right thing, having
integrity.
(28:05):
But part of that is you knowdoing the right thing for
yourself too.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So I love it.
I mean because you don't haveto be a jerk to hold people
accountable and sometimes wethink that's what it is, because
I think everybody me personallyI don't think anybody's
behavior should make youdisrespectful.
Like whatever happens to youdoesn't mean you get to respond
in a way that's unprofessional.
Like never let anybody else'sbehavior derail your character.
(28:32):
If you're a nice person andyou're a respectful person,
regardless of their misbehavioror their being unprofessional,
you should still stick with yourcharacter.
If that's truly who you are,you can still be nice, you can
still be kind and say hey, no,james, that's not acceptable.
That's not what we're doingversus yeah, that's not who you
are.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, you're true to yourself for one.
And then, ultimately, can youget it to a point where it's
something that you actuallyenjoy doing where you love, and
you can get there.
You totally can, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yes, it is very possible and I'll say, you know,
as we look at leadership, welook at, you know, organizations
.
Now people are leaning on usmore and more to treat them like
humans, to treat them withkindness.
And if you're running anorganization because like we pay
them a salary don't mean youtreat them any kind of way, and
I think people want to still berespected and treated, you know,
like decent human beings that'sthere to help you and help you
(29:23):
achieve your dreams.
So, if you're listening to us,always take care of your team,
do it respectfully.
And you got to make some hardchoices Doesn't mean that you
got to be mean about it.
You can still respect them,even if you got to make those
hard decisions and someone's notdoing what they should be doing
.
So do it respectfully.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Along those same lines and elsewhere.
In the beginning, when I firstgot going, I'd react.
I was very reactive with almosteverything.
See a bill that I wasn'texpecting, freak out, you know,
somebody do something that Ididn't like.
I'd, you know, reactemotionally in the moment some
sort of crisis comes along,react immediately.
And the thing that probably theactually the thing the number
(30:03):
one thing that I use every dayis just you don't have to react
to everything immediately.
Maybe, maybe sleep on it, Maybetake a day, think about it,
think about your response, andthen you'll have better ideas of
, like you know, maybe we shouldask him about this bill rather
than just go ballistic on him,right?
So thank you for bringing thatup.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That's a.
That's a good way.
You know, one of the things II've learned over time and
people ask me I say, look, I'venever, ever in my life, made a
good decision when I wasfrustrated.
It's very reactionary, I justdid what I felt like and I
didn't think about it.
And that's very dangerousbecause it's hard to repair some
of that damage if the persongives you a chance to repair it.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah, the person may not.
They may like no, you came outof character, I didn't expect
that from you.
And they just may not be ableto recover from it.
So be really, really mindful,you know, as James is saying,
like, don't be so reactive.
Sometimes, sleep on it, takethem.
I know there'll be times whereyou just got to make a decision,
but even then you can stillmake sure that you do it in a
very professional, responsibleway.
(31:01):
Like don't be irresponsible andbecause someone's misbehaving
and doing something that'stotally out of, don't mean you
got to come out of character.
Like stay true to goodleadership.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So, james, it's been great man, I mean, I don't think
I've had anybody on the podcastthat has your background in
action repair and aircraft andbusiness owner in that space.
So I love it.
We aircraft and business ownerin that space.
So I love it.
We'd love to be able to bringyou back on the show, you know,
in a couple of months and just,hey, let's go back to this where
we are now.
But what's the best way toreach out to you?
If someone else is listeningand they run podcasts, you know
(31:33):
how do they find you?
Are you on LinkedIn?
What social media platforms areyou using where people can
support your business?
But also if they want to bringyou on a podcast to promote your
business and to talk aboutleadership or whatever it is
that you bring to the table.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, definitely.
So the easiest way is going towwwspearmanaircraftcom.
That's got a link to actuallymy podcast, which focuses on
aviation and the James Spearmanshow, and normally each person
that owns an aircraft has apretty unique story, right, like
they probably had to be prettysuccessful to purchase something
like that.
So I focus on those and then,yeah, if you own an aircraft,
(32:12):
I'd be happy to help you with it.
And honestly, normally what mycustomers look like is they're
in their 40s or 50s.
They're not in the learningstage anymore, they're in the
earning stage, and so now theyhave enough resources where they
might think about buying backsome of their time.
And well, an aircraft buys backa significant amount of time and
it's a time machine.
And so many of my customers are40s, 50s, 60s, and now they're
(32:35):
kind of met with this I'd liketo buy an aircraft.
What do I do?
And so happy to help there,walk you through that process on
how do you get an aircraft, doyou learn how to?
On how do you get an aircraftdealer and how to fly the Ohio
pilot, all of that sort of stuff.
And then, if you happen to bein the Smoky Mountains near
Pigeon Forge, we also do flighttraining in a seaplane.
That one's iconicridescom and,yeah, those are the things that
(32:58):
we offer and I appreciate you,ron, I really do.
Thank you so much for theopportunity to be on your show.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And you did a phenomenal job and anybody
that's in that space that I cando a couple of things on our
podcast for all our listeners.
We do a couple of things.
We are very organic and we keepit real and have fun, but we
build and develop businesses andwe build and develop
relationships and we add valueto our leaders across the board.
You know, we know those thingskeep our community together.
It keeps us working togetherand supporting one another.
So reach out to hisorganization.
(33:26):
You know, if you're in aviationand you have an aircraft, go on
this podcast.
You know, if you want to invitehim on and let him talk about
his experiences as anentrepreneur, business owner,
hey, invite him to your podcast.
Had a lot of fun with you andhopefully at some point, you
know, we'll be able to see eachother and meet face to face.
But if there's anything that wecan do, please reach out to him
and hopefully we shared someinformation.
That's super important.
(33:46):
We talked about a lot of stuff.
Please take care of yourself,take care of your team and keep
your integrity in place.
Be a good leader.
Until next time, James and I'llsign off and thank you for
joining us and hopefully weshared something with you that
made a shift for you and how yousee your role as being a leader
in your organization.
Thank you all for joining usand we'll see you on the next
podcast.
Unpack with Ron Harvey.
(34:07):
Every single Monday, we releasean episode.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
where you are, for the peopleyou serve, because people always
(34:34):
matter.
Welcome to Unpacked Podcast with your host
leadership consultant, ronHarvey of GlobalCore Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, ron Harvey.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good afternoon.
This is Ron Harvey, vicePresident, chief Operating
Officer for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting, a
professional services leadershipdevelopment firm based out of
Columbia, south Carolina.
We've been around about 11years.
We spend all of our timehelping leaders be more
effective at taking care of thepeople that they're responsible
for responsible to know theirdirect reports.
How do you do a really good jobof just doing this in this
(00:42):
world where there's so manychanges, so many generations and
so much happening?
How do you just be an effectiveleader and take care of those
people?
So that's what I do on a day today basis, you know, within our
organization, but I pause and doa podcast for our guests and
for our people around the globethat listen and tune in to give
them practical knowledge andwisdom and best practices about
leadership and about somechallenges and about what other
(01:04):
people are doing that they maynot ever encounter in person.
So I love that our guests comefrom all over to do that, and so
, no different than all theother guests, I want to bring
James on.
James Spearman is, you know.
He's coming out of Tennesseewith us and I love to have
guests with all backgrounds.
So, james, I'm going to handyou the microphone man and let
you introduce yourself howeveryou wish to, and then we'll go
ahead and get into the work andthe questions.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, ron, thank you so much for having me on.
I really appreciate theopportunity.
A little bit about me I own anaircraft maintenance shop in
East Tennessee, right at theheart of the Smokies near Pigeon
Forge, gatlinburg, and we haveabout six employees We've ranged
from six to ten here, haveabout six employees Um, we've
(01:47):
ranged from six to 10, um here,and we primarily focus on uh
privately owned aircraft Cirrusaircraft, diamond aircraft, um,
and uh now Epic aircraft as well, and so these are aircraft that
are owned by a small businessowner or business um, and
they're using it to to airplanesare pretty much a time machine.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So they can uh, they can.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
If, if you are a business owner and you own
multiple units like, let's say,multiple locations and you need
to visit a few of them allwithin one region within one day
, this would save you asignificant amount of time and
make sure you could still havedinner with your family.
So we also do upgrades.
We're a Garmin avionics dealerand that's all of the little
(02:27):
instruments that you see in theairplane.
Normally it's taking all thatout and put nice new shiny glass
and it builds safety andsituational awareness for the
pilot.
I do that during the day, andthen I also fly for the Air
Force National Guard inKnoxville.
I fly the KC-135.
It's a refueler.
(02:48):
It refuels all the fighters andpretty much every airplane in
the inventory whenever they needgas while in the air Right, so
fuels the fight.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Wow.
Well, this is intriguing.
There's so many questions thatjust show up, you know, based on
your sharing your background.
So, james, you're doing twothings.
You're serving our country,thank you for that, you know I'm
serving the country and keepingthem in the air with fuel, but
you're also a business owner, Imean.
(03:25):
So you know you're you're doingthings in aviation and you
think leadership and you thinkaviation.
And I use a video from the BlueAngels when I talk about
leadership, about how importantit is when you're 18 inches
apart from each other, flying at700 miles per hour and
everything has to be just right,and I always tie that back to
leadership.
So I will unpack for usthroughout the day is aviation
and leadership, and you're in anorganization that is about
leadership as well, which istheir National Guard.
But talk about your journey.
(03:46):
What made you get into yourindustry?
What was intriguing enough foryou to say, hey, I want to get
into this space other thanflying?
You're upgrading, outfitting,helping business owners.
What's interesting about thatfor you?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah.
So aviation in general mostpeople that are in it there was
a point in their life where theykind of got the spark.
And once you get the spark itjust never goes away.
And for me personally, mygrandfather was a World War II
aviator and he flew in World WarII and then later on has become
the Air Force, and so I grew uplooking at pictures of him in
(04:18):
airplanes.
My dad told me storiesFortunately I never got to meet
him, but got to see that growingup and then my dad took me to a
local air show.
Normally there's a local airportaround and they'll have, you
know, little fly-ins and airshows and it was no different
there.
And my dad took me there and Iwas in middle school and I just
(04:40):
kind of made up my mind this isit, this is what I'm going to do
.
I don't know exactly whatthat's going to look like.
I actually wanted to fix theplanes to start with, which I
still do.
I just that was the first thingthat kind of caught me.
I wanted to be a mechanic andthen, as I started fixing them,
I thought that would be prettycool to fly these things too.
So fast forward.
(05:08):
I also my was a, an artist, andhe always worked for himself,
and so I always kind of had alittle bit of an entrepreneurial
bug in me, and so it it wasunique that the opportunities
aligned where I was able topurchase a business in aviation,
where my experience, my degreewas in wow, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So, as you, so as you , you like you say you're,
you're running, you know,sometimes with the 10 people in
your organization.
What do you, what do you tellpeople that that have a staff?
When you think of leadership inyour role and and and taking
care of your team, what are someof the skill sets that you
bring to the table to make surethat that?
Because what you're doing isimportant, especially, like you
know, I talk to friends now andyou look at all of the things
(05:44):
that aviation is going through.
There's a lot of challenges andchanges that people are nervous
about aviation.
How do you keep your teamgrounded as a leader with all
that happening?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, so a lot of it's been learning, because when
you get in to start a businessor really anyone getting into a
field where you're going to be aleader, normally it's because
you were good at whatever thething was right.
So you were a good mechanic.
In my experience, you know, inmy space it was a good mechanic,
a good pilot, and I see a lotof business owners like that In
(06:14):
the Air Force right, like thebest technician normally gets
elevated to a leadershipposition.
The problem is that'scompletely different, right?
So being a good leader is notexactly, you know, there's not,
it's not the same.
So you know there's some thingsthat cross.
But yeah, I've had to, you know,kind of make mistakes and learn
(06:36):
how to lead people and it'staken me years, you know, I wish
, you know, I wish I would havestarted, you know, probably
pushing a little bit harder andtrying to educate myself with
coaching on actually justmanaging, managing people.
I would say my unique, my style, naturally, is just kind of
like a charismatic guy andthat's just the only thing I had
(07:01):
.
I never had a way to like holdpeople accountable and have
crucial conversations thatneeded to happen and so, and I'm
kind of a people pleaser too.
So all of those things mixedtogether make inconsistent
management.
So, yeah, I've had to kind oftake my lumps and and, uh, learn
(07:21):
, learn the hard, the hard waythrough most of it and then, um,
and invest in coaching,honestly, to help me kind of
okay, here's, here's the basicson how you would manage.
Uh, someone the air force hashelped a little bit too, going
through officer training andstuff, but it's different, it's
definitely different.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean thank you for being so transparent and
vulnerable there, like, hey,you know I had to figure it out.
You know, I know that I'm apeople pleaser.
You know, I know I'm notconfrontational, but that
doesn't exempt me from having todo the tough conversation and
that's the ownership piece of it.
Like, even though I don't wantto and hope that I never have to
do those things, how do youbuild up the muscle for it?
And Air Force and running thebusiness is different.
(08:01):
In uniform for our listeners,they almost have to listen.
There's some severe consequences.
But when you're in corporateAmerica you are running a
business.
You know the consequences isyou can fire them or your
clients.
You may lose some of yourclients because they're not
doing it.
So there's a different style ofleadership that you got to be
able to embrace.
What have you learned over time, like being in the business and
(08:21):
you think about where you arenow and you know that your
places I don't call itweaknesses, I call it
opportunities for growth younotice that you got these places
where you got to grow at.
What have you been doing?
(08:42):
You know, over time, you knowyou got a coach, which is a
really good idea.
I'm an executive coach, so Ilove working with leaders like
yourself.
What have you learned over timeabout yourself that that's
helping you start having thosecrucial conversations and
holding people accountable?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think in the beginning specifically, there's
a lot of areas, I would say butespecially in the beginning,
what I didn't realize was whatpeople pleasing was, and it was.
It was, um, allowing somethingto happen or doing something to
make somebody else happy, evento my detriment at times, um, or
the company's detriment, or theteam's detriment, um, just
(09:09):
because I didn't want to makethem unhappy, right, and I'm the
number one sales guy in ourcompany, right, just as the
founder it's the founder isalways the sale.
You know the number one salesguy, and so you know what do I
do in sales?
I make people happy, right?
So, and so I had to kind ofunlearn a lot of a lot of that
(09:29):
stuff that, hey, it's okay, it'sactually you're loving the
person by telling them you knowwhere they're actually at,
rather than just showing up oneday and let them go Right, like
they need to know these thingsand and and you know, saying no,
this was really really hard forme, even to my detriment.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So yeah, and there are a lot of people that are
listening, that are in thatposition.
So you know, the thing I loveabout, you know, the podcast, is
that people come on the topopenly and honestly like, hey,
you know what?
I don't have this right yet,I'm still working on it.
You know, the business is stillflourishing.
You know, I'm I'm I'm doingthese things and with the
military background and a CEO,and most times we think, because
we have a title or with a CEO,we're supposed to have it right
(10:10):
all the time.
So I'm glad you said, hey look,I'm still working on it.
I I'm not all the way where Iwant to be at now because
there's this unwritten rule likeleaders think they got to have
all the answers and they got tobe perfect.
Can you, can you speak to?
(10:30):
How did you begin to navigateaway from feeling like first you
got to have all the answers oryou know you got to be perfect
and you got to do it right allthe time.
How did you do manage?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
and navigate that, either from your military
experience or from being anentrepreneur experience, or from
being an entrepreneur, that onetakes time too.
I um, especially from themilitary, where you want to have
some sort of level of you know.
Uh, that saying is, you know,perception is reality, right.
So in the military, you know,you want to be perceived that
you've got it all figured out,otherwise people don't think you
might not.
So, uh, but the reality isyou're never going to know
(10:57):
everything.
It's impossible.
And there's people that startbusinesses every day that have
no clue, they've never done anyfacet of it and they can become
successful over time.
And so, leadership, definitelyright, just because you've never
done it before doesn't meanthat you can never be good at it
.
So, um, actually, the, the, whatI've noticed, the willingness,
(11:19):
willingness that um, that hasgrown to just take those on and
just not, you know, okay, well,we'll figure it out.
And that's places in the team,right where we've got a meeting,
and they're like, well, this orthat we shouldn't do it.
And it's like, okay, well,we'll figure it out.
Now we can do it, we'll figureit out, yeah, we'll just figure
it out.
And so, um, yeah, and, andultimately it's, it's a from a
(11:44):
self-esteem point.
When you kind of let go of this, I have to know everything.
Mentality, um, your, your lifeactually gets a lot happier.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Okay for me not to know everything yeah, which
which is good for you, as youshare it.
So you're going from, you know,leaving your company, you've
learned that, hey, I don'treally have to have all the
answers.
What do you tell the leaderthat does have all the answers,
and that can be a downside aswell.
So where you're the know-it-all, arrogant or cocky, how does
(12:18):
that get in the way?
Because there's two extremes Imay not show up like I have any
answers, but then I show up likeI have all the answers.
There has to be a nice sweetspot in there where you're not
on either end of that spectrumall the time.
How do you show up if theleader that you do have all the
answers, but make room foreverybody else to have a voice
and have some answers yeah, what?
But make room for everybodyelse to have?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
a voice and have some answers.
Yeah, what comes to mind for me?
Two, two different things.
Right, there's been if you're,if you're cocky and you're a
jerk like that's a separateright, so.
But aside from that, yeah,there there are areas where I'm
I'm really confident.
I don't know everything.
I know that I don't knoweverything everywhere,
everywhere, but I'm prettyconfident in some of my, my
(12:59):
skill sets, yes, that I can makethings happen right.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So, yeah, and you're running the business, like and
that's the important part likethat when you know there's some
places you really shine everyone of us if you don't have
those, then get a coach so youcan figure out what those are.
If you're listening, if youhaven't defined where you're
really good at, like, get acoach, coach so you can start
defining those places where youshow up and you know what you
know what you know.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, but when it starts to become a problem, what
comes to my mind when you saythat is when you don't give the
team an opportunity to growright.
So if you're always the hero asa leader, you come in and fix
everybody's problems.
You know what you're trainingeveryone to do is oh, he's got
all the answers.
And then they don't do anythinguntil you tell give them the
(13:46):
answers.
They never learned to solve theproblem themselves, and I
actually had to learn that thehard way too.
Um, when I was deployed actuallythis past year, I was deployed
to the Middle East and I was,you know, four or five thousand
miles away from my business, andit still had to go.
And so normally I'm used tobeing the hero and I can jump in
and kick something out the dooror fix whatever it is right,
(14:10):
and I had to.
All of a sudden, I can't dothat anymore.
I have to rely on the team, Ihave to get them to where they
can get it through, and sothat's another big learning area
that will just make your lifebetter when you start learning
to work through people, becausethere's only so many hours a
(14:30):
week right, and I've definitelybeen guilty of working 60, 100
hour weeks, stuff like that.
But at the end of the day yougot to ask sit down and be like
why am I working 60 hours a week?
What?
What of these things could I bedelegating to my staff, my team
, you know, and that would takethat much off my plate.
So maybe I could have a moremanageable normal week and take
(14:51):
responsibility for it.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Wow, I'm loving the conversation because you're
leading it too, as I you know,you shared a real experience.
No, you got deployed when youdid.
You did you find out, like youknow, when you got deployed
4,000 miles away from yourbusiness and you were the hero
all the time, did you find thatpeople were willing and waiting
to help you?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Because we don't.
We think like, oh, I'm the onlyone that can do it.
But if you just get out the waylong enough, you'll be amazed
what kind of talent's on yourteam.
Yeah, you'd be surprised.
You're exactly right.
And yeah, my staff when I wasgone, they really stepped up big
time and helped me out and Ilearned oh OK, they can do it.
You know, I don't have to bethe one that does this, and it's
not that it's like oh, Ithought they couldn't.
It's just you get addicted.
You get addicted to alwaysfixing the thing, always solving
(15:44):
the problem, always.
And so the first time ithappens when you didn't have to
do it, you're like, oh okay, wow, that happened and I think a
part of it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
You know when I went through that.
I'm going through it as well.
You know we've been in business11 years.
A part of it is your ego drivesit Like who doesn't want to
feel needed and who doesn't wantto feel like they have the
answer and that they're wantedin the company, like, hey, ron
is here, but but it's notsustainable.
I mean, it's not scalable.
Your business will actually beheld back if you, every time
(16:19):
it's going to be successful, yougot to be present.
Your business will be introuble at some point.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, you're exactly right.
You become the learning factor.
You're the bottleneck of everysystem.
Until you let go, it's notgoing to grow.
You can't scale it.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So what did you notice?
So, when you, when you deployed, what did you actually notice
in your business?
How did your business do whenyou finally accept it?
I don't have to be there foreverything.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What started happening in your business that
you needed to happen anyway.
Well, I mean, honestly, I'mtrying to do everything yourself
, I mean, is extremely stressful, and so I mean I would.
I would get rash.
I'm rubbing my arm because it'slike taking me back trauma,
wise right.
I would get like rashes on myarms, I would feel nauseous, I'd
throw up because of the stress,you know, because I'm just in
my mind, I'm like I can't.
No, this is going to happen ifI don't do it, and so I'm sure
(17:14):
I'll work till midnight, sureI'll work the weekend, sure I'll
, you know.
And so my life started gettinga lot better when I started,
which allowed me to focus onother areas where really do need
my attention.
You know not, I don't I don'tneed to be doing everything, but
there are certain things that Ireally do need to be focusing
(17:35):
on, but I can't focus on thosewhen I'm trying to do everything
all at once.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yes, yes, I love it.
I mean I tell people that as anentrepreneur, business, a
business developer or leader inan organization, there are about
10 things that actually you arethe only person that should and
could do this thing, but theother 90 things out of a hundred
, somebody else can actually dothem.
And I think when you get caughtup with all the things that
make, I struggled because Iwould do the things that made me
(17:59):
feel good and avoid the thingsI didn't like doing.
So I would step in your way in aheartbeat.
Yeah, let me go do this becauseit struck me either way.
It made me feel like, okay, I'madding some value.
But they look like, yeah, butthis other thing is falling out
of the sky on us because you'renot spending your time over
there.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Yeah, one of the coaches.
I mean I do the same thing.
I procrastinate with things Idon't want to do.
That may really need myattention.
They got to be done but theymake me feel uncomfortable
because I hate it or I don'twant to do that thing.
You've got a couple of optionsto get it done, but you know the
hard conversations that youhave to have.
(18:35):
Like you said, we led this withhard conversations, right?
So those are ones that you gotto have.
He worked with me.
He's like how about do those?
First in the day, wake up andcrush whatever it is that makes
your, your, your stomach uneasy,and then the rest of the day
then do the other things.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yes, I love it like do this the hard stuff first,
when you got the most energy,yeah can you speak to the
entrepreneur that's spending 80hours, like you were, or 60
hours like when is enough enough?
When do you start realizing,like, because sometimes we do
think that, in order to besuccessful, more hours mean
better results or more results,or if I don't do it, it's not
going to get done.
I got to do it because mybusiness is going to fail.
(19:15):
You can rationalize why you'redoing it, but it's still not
healthy.
Like, how do you make thatdecision of when to stop and
stop and be healthy?
Because you don't want to seeyour team work 80 hours, but
you're setting an example ofwhat it looks like because you
work 80 hours.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And I'm still guilty of it.
Right, there are certain timeswhere I've got to drop
everything and I'll work 60, 80,whatever the hours, because
there's some crisis that we haveto.
We've got to.
It requires it.
There's one job that we're waybehind on there was something is
doing it, but realizing thatthat's not sustainable and this
(19:51):
is a one-off thing.
Whenever this is done, I getback to my normal schedule,
which is my calendar, andputting it on the calendar being
intentional.
I think it was Stephen Coveythat talks about your little
bowl with the rocks in it.
Right, if it's full of all thelittle rocks, there's room for
the big rocks.
Yeah, you pour some dirt inthere and make roots.
(20:12):
So, you know, sitting down withmy wife and just planning the
year out, planning the year outand be like these are the big
rocks, these are the things thatare important, right?
Because you know, let's say, youput 80 hours in a week and it's
really successful, and then atthe end of it, nobody's there,
your wife and your kids aren'tthere left, right, it can have
(20:35):
really big consequences, not tomention, let's say, health
issues, right, maybe your wifesticks by your side, but you put
yourself into the hospital,like I said.
I mean, I was having prettysevere health and my body was
telling me this is notsustainable, and sometimes you
can do that for a really longtime.
Then, yeah, you start havingheart issues and you're, you
know, premature, much morepremature time frame and so
(20:57):
having a having a biggerperspective on, okay, this is
not, it's not sustainable, okay,how can, how can I?
And then, but then you kind offeel guilty, right, because
you're not putting 80 hours inor 60 or whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, you feel guilty .
We do feel guilty as leaders.
Sometimes you feel guiltybecause you're not putting it in
, but also the message thatyou're sending, and I'll be
biased here for a second.
Like men are horrible abouttaking care of themselves
already, like we just don't do agood job of taking care of
ourselves like we should.
Our body's telling us stuffthat we're tired, we're
exhausted, something's medicallywrong.
(21:32):
And while I can't afford to goto the doctor, you know you
can't afford not to.
Let's be real, if you wantlongevity.
So how do you help theentrepreneur understand?
There are some things thattaking care of you, if you're
the sole source, if you're thisperson, can you speak to
self-care?
Speaker 3 (21:55):
to self-care, yeah.
So, um, this one was hard too,because now they're some of it's
getting into like therapy,right.
But you know, there's probablya reason that if, if you're kind
of like it says you and I, youand I were kind of similar
people pleasing, right, you'renot used to looking after your
own needs.
You're always trying to makeother people happy, and so even
to your detriment.
And so once you realize thatthe other thing is, you feel
guilty when you take care ofyourself, when you do that stuff
(22:18):
.
But somebody really helped meput this in perspective and I
was like, james, would it bebetter for your, let's say, your
wife, your daughter, your team,if you were the 10.0 version
James versus the 1.0 versionJames?
Would it be better for them?
Wouldn't it be good for them ifyou were 10.0, james instead of
1.0?
And I was like, yeah, andthat's when it started to click
(22:41):
in my head.
It's like, okay, no, it's good,I need to invest in myself, I
need to work on a coach, I needto go to the gym, I need to do
the things that make me liketheir self-care things Right.
So get a good night's sleep,only work a certain amount of
hours, you know, usually, andprioritizing the big things and
those make you better and it'sOK you can, it's OK to look
(23:04):
after yourself.
Normal people outside lookingin they just hear, oh, like
egotistical, you know whatever,greedy bosses or whatever.
But you know, what we'retalking about is actually the
opposite, right?
So so you're so scared youcan't even, you can't even take
(23:25):
care of your basic needs.
You feel guilty that you'retaking care of your basic needs.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, which is a culture thing I mean.
And you're taking care of yourbasic needs?
Yeah, which is a culture thing,I mean.
And you got to be mindful.
You know, in the leadershipworld, I say, look, if I tell my
team I want you to spend timewith your family, I want you to
go to the baseball games or thefootball games or the dance
recitals, I got to do the samething and we'll always tell our
staff well, when are you goingto do it?
(23:52):
Like you know, isn't that beinghypocritical?
Like you're telling us to goand do anniversaries and
birthdays and these things thatare significant and important,
but I never see you do it.
James, when are you going to doit?
Cause I'm sure your family will.
And it's like this wake up callwhere they get to hold you
accountable to ensure that youraudio matches your video.
Like we hear you saying it butwe don't see you living it.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
And, ultimately, the route where this ends like well,
like we talked about healthissues, maybe lost relationships
, but ultimately you hate whatyou do and I've been there.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yes, when you really hate what you do the business
that you built you hate it.
You can't sustain that, and soit is possible to put this in a
manageable way where you cantake care of your own needs,
take care of your team, buildsomething awesome, but you know
where you actually love what youdo, and that's over the past
year.
That's what I've been workingon quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Hey, congratulations, thanks for sharing.
You know what I was thinkingwhen you were talking about the
different versions, james.
You know I'm like man, sohere's the analogy that came up
yeah, when, when iPhone firstcame out, it was just iPhone,
but every year, and sometimestwice a year, they roll out
another versions.
And so the question that cameto mind like what version are
you in your career If iPhone haschanged once a year, at least
(25:06):
twice a year at a minimum?
Like what, how often are youimproving yourself?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
because iphone realized to be sustainable and
around long term, they keepgetting better yeah, and I'm
going to give you a huge shoutout, because if you're a coach
and you're working with peopleand people are listening to this
podcast, I mean and that ifyou're struggling in your
business somebody told me, like,invest in yourself first yes
get a coach, get it startworking with therapists do, and
(25:32):
I was like, well, how's thatgonna help my payroll, you know,
and it didn't make sense, butyeah, it helped significantly.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
That is like step one get a coach, start working on
yourself first yes, yeah, I tellpeople all the time, and I
guess you're in aviation soyou'll appreciate this.
You know, if you're in the airand you're traveling with your
small child and all of a suddenthere's a danger and airbags
fall down, the very first thingthey tell you is put on your
(26:00):
mask first.
Before you put it on, andthat's in my head.
I'm like like you're absolutelyinsane, I'm going to put my
kid's mask on first.
That's what most parentsnaturally want to do.
But the importance of that isthat if you don't get oxygen to
your brain, you're not going tohelp your child anyway, because
it happens so fast.
So you've got to be able tomake sure you can rescue and
save, and if you don't get yourson, your kid is going to be in
(26:20):
trouble if you don't getyourself together.
So, leaders, you've got toactually model what they teach
us in aviation Put your mask onfirst.
That way you can be of serviceto the people that are counting
on you.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
That's a great, great sayingtoo.
A lot of people use thatanalogy in this, in this exact
area, like, and we talk about it, and this is when I fly the
tanker, I mean that's a realthing.
It's there's action statement,it's oxygen on.
Like, put it on.
Step, put the oxygen mask on.
You have a puncturization issue.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Step one I love it, I mean, and it works in every
industry and everything in yourlife.
You know, you can literally saywell, what am I?
If I say this is what we do,then I should do it first, you
know, and I think that's superimportant.
So, professional developmentfor everyone that's listening
develop yourself self-care,spend time with your family,
continue to learn your career,delegate you be first to
(27:13):
delegate.
Trust you be the first to trust.
Like, all these things are goodprinciples and practices,
regardless whether you're anentrepreneur or you're working
in a corporation.
Like how are you letting peoplesee it be done versus telling
them how to do it?
People will always rememberwhat they see more than what
they hear Be a good role model.
Is there anything, as we lookat time, is there anything that
(27:35):
you share through yourexperiences as a, as an
entrepreneur, some leadershipprinciples that you practice
every day in your business, thatwill be helpful to anybody,
whether they're entrepreneurs ornot?
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Practice every day.
Well, one that really hits home, kind of where we started, that
I've been working on is thehaving the conversations when
they need to be had.
You know it really is and doingit in a way right like you
don't want to be a jerk, you saythings respectfully, but you
know staying up for yourself,doing the right thing, having
integrity.
(28:05):
But part of that is you knowdoing the right thing for
yourself too.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
So I love it.
I mean because you don't haveto be a jerk to hold people
accountable and sometimes wethink that's what it is, because
I think everybody me personallyI don't think anybody's
behavior should make youdisrespectful.
Like whatever happens to youdoesn't mean you get to respond
in a way that's unprofessional.
Like never let anybody else'sbehavior derail your character.
(28:32):
If you're a nice person andyou're a respectful person,
regardless of their misbehavioror their being unprofessional,
you should still stick with yourcharacter.
If that's truly who you are,you can still be nice, you can
still be kind and say hey, no,james, that's not acceptable.
That's not what we're doingversus yeah, that's not who you
are.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, you're true to yourself for one.
And then, ultimately, can youget it to a point where it's
something that you actuallyenjoy doing where you love, and
you can get there.
You totally can, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yes, it is very possible and I'll say, you know,
as we look at leadership, welook at, you know, organizations
.
Now people are leaning on usmore and more to treat them like
humans, to treat them withkindness.
And if you're running anorganization because like we pay
them a salary don't mean youtreat them any kind of way, and
I think people want to still berespected and treated, you know,
like decent human beings that'sthere to help you and help you
(29:23):
achieve your dreams.
So, if you're listening to us,always take care of your team,
do it respectfully.
And you got to make some hardchoices Doesn't mean that you
got to be mean about it.
You can still respect them,even if you got to make those
hard decisions and someone's notdoing what they should be doing
.
So do it respectfully.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Along those same lines and elsewhere.
In the beginning, when I firstgot going, I'd react.
I was very reactive with almosteverything.
See a bill that I wasn'texpecting, freak out, you know,
somebody do something that Ididn't like.
I'd, you know, reactemotionally in the moment some
sort of crisis comes along,react immediately.
And the thing that probably theactually the thing the number
(30:03):
one thing that I use every dayis just you don't have to react
to everything immediately.
Maybe, maybe sleep on it, Maybetake a day, think about it,
think about your response, andthen you'll have better ideas of
, like you know, maybe we shouldask him about this bill rather
than just go ballistic on him,right?
So thank you for bringing thatup.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That's a.
That's a good way.
You know, one of the things II've learned over time and
people ask me I say, look, I'venever, ever in my life, made a
good decision when I wasfrustrated.
It's very reactionary, I justdid what I felt like and I
didn't think about it.
And that's very dangerousbecause it's hard to repair some
of that damage if the persongives you a chance to repair it.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah, the person may not.
They may like no, you came outof character, I didn't expect
that from you.
And they just may not be ableto recover from it.
So be really, really mindful,you know, as James is saying,
like, don't be so reactive.
Sometimes, sleep on it, takethem.
I know there'll be times whereyou just got to make a decision,
but even then you can stillmake sure that you do it in a
very professional, responsibleway.
(31:01):
Like don't be irresponsible andbecause someone's misbehaving
and doing something that'stotally out of, don't mean you
got to come out of character.
Like stay true to goodleadership.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So, james, it's been great man, I mean, I don't think
I've had anybody on the podcastthat has your background in
action repair and aircraft andbusiness owner in that space.
So I love it.
We aircraft and business ownerin that space.
So I love it.
We'd love to be able to bringyou back on the show, you know,
in a couple of months and just,hey, let's go back to this where
we are now.
But what's the best way toreach out to you?
If someone else is listeningand they run podcasts, you know
(31:33):
how do they find you?
Are you on LinkedIn?
What social media platforms areyou using where people can
support your business?
But also if they want to bringyou on a podcast to promote your
business and to talk aboutleadership or whatever it is
that you bring to the table.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Yeah, definitely.
So the easiest way is going towwwspearmanaircraftcom.
That's got a link to actuallymy podcast, which focuses on
aviation and the James Spearmanshow, and normally each person
that owns an aircraft has apretty unique story, right, like
they probably had to be prettysuccessful to purchase something
like that.
So I focus on those and then,yeah, if you own an aircraft,
(32:12):
I'd be happy to help you with it.
And honestly, normally what mycustomers look like is they're
in their 40s or 50s.
They're not in the learningstage anymore, they're in the
earning stage, and so now theyhave enough resources where they
might think about buying backsome of their time.
And well, an aircraft buys backa significant amount of time and
it's a time machine.
And so many of my customers are40s, 50s, 60s, and now they're
(32:35):
kind of met with this I'd liketo buy an aircraft.
What do I do?
And so happy to help there,walk you through that process on
how do you get an aircraft, doyou learn how to?
On how do you get an aircraftdealer and how to fly the Ohio
pilot, all of that sort of stuff.
And then, if you happen to bein the Smoky Mountains near
Pigeon Forge, we also do flighttraining in a seaplane.
That one's iconicridescom and,yeah, those are the things that
(32:58):
we offer and I appreciate you,ron, I really do.
Thank you so much for theopportunity to be on your show.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And you did a phenomenal job and anybody
that's in that space that I cando a couple of things on our
podcast for all our listeners.
We do a couple of things.
We are very organic and we keepit real and have fun, but we
build and develop businesses andwe build and develop
relationships and we add valueto our leaders across the board.
You know, we know those thingskeep our community together.
It keeps us working togetherand supporting one another.
So reach out to hisorganization.
(33:26):
You know, if you're in aviationand you have an aircraft, go on
this podcast.
You know, if you want to invitehim on and let him talk about
his experiences as anentrepreneur, business owner,
hey, invite him to your podcast.
Had a lot of fun with you andhopefully at some point, you
know, we'll be able to see eachother and meet face to face.
But if there's anything that wecan do, please reach out to him
and hopefully we shared someinformation.
That's super important.
(33:46):
We talked about a lot of stuff.
Please take care of yourself,take care of your team and keep
your integrity in place.
Be a good leader.
Until next time, James and I'llsign off and thank you for
joining us and hopefully weshared something with you that
made a shift for you and how yousee your role as being a leader
in your organization.
Thank you all for joining usand we'll see you on the next
podcast.
Unpack with Ron Harvey.
(34:07):
Every single Monday, we releasean episode.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpacked
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us everyMonday as Ron unpacks sound
advice, providing real answersfor real leadership challenges.
Until next time, remember toadd value and make a difference
where you are, for the peopleyou serve, because people always
(34:34):
matter.
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